Archive for the 'Jesse Scroggins' Tag Under 'USC' Category

USC will practice this afternoon, plus Friday and Saturday, then take a Christmas break and travel to El Paso next Wednesday in advance of the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve against Georgia Tech.

On Wednesday, the Trojans started installing their game plan, which on the defensive side will focus on stopping the Yellow Jackets' run-oriented "flexbone'' attack. It will be the final challenge for assistant head coach Monte Kiffin, who will resign after the game.

USC has its scout team trying to replicate Georgia Tech's rare offense, with walk-on running back Robert Mojica playing the role of Yellow Jackets quarterback Tevin Washington.

"I'm glad we have a lot of time," Coach Lane Kiffin said. "I don't know how people (prepare for) it in one week."

After a two-day break, USC returns to the field with a night practice. Here are a couple off-field notes going into it...

-- Offensive lineman Abe Markowitz has been granted, by USC, the right to talk to BYU, Hawaii, Kansas, Kansas State, Notre Dame, UCLA, Utah, Oklahoma and Washington about a potential transfer. Markowitz is seeking a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA due to early-career injuries, but USC told Markowitz that it does not have room for him on scholarship in 2013.

-- Texas high school receiver Eldridge Massington, a former USC commit, now says he plans to go to UCLA. Massington wanted to enroll early at USC in order to rehab his knee, which he injured last summer, but academic issues prevented him from doing so, so Massington reopened his recruiting and chose UCLA.

-- Former USC quarterback Jesse Scroggins has signed with Arizona after one season at El Camino College in Torrance.

News: The school announces that redshirt-sophomore quarterback Jesse Scrogginswill transfer.

Views: No surprise whatsoever and the best thing for both parties. Scroggins had fallen hopelessly behind future-QB competitors Cody Kessler and Max Wittek, despite having a semester's head start on them. Barring a Curtis McNeal-esque turnaround -- a depth-chart climb that's harder at quarterback than any other position -- Scroggins wasn't going to play at USC. (The arrival next spring of top prospect Max Browne would have made the ascent that much steeper.) Despite publicly stating otherwise, Scroggins undoubtedly concluded the same and saw that the only path to playing time was to transfer. He struggled with injuries and the playbook at USC and never displayed the pocket composure needed to master the position. But that's what fresh starts are for. From USC's perspective, Scroggins' departure cleared up some clutter on the QB depth chart and put the Trojans at 75 scholarship players -- exactly where they have to be for the start of fall camp.

"After meeting with Jesse Scroggins and his father recently, Jesse has decided to transfer from USC," Kiffin said in a report on the school's web site. "Jesse had a very strong spring semester in the classroom, therefore he is academically eligible to transfer at this time."

Scroggins has not yet announced where he will transfer. USC now has three scholarship quarterbacks, with Cody Kessler and Max Wittek (Mater Dei High) battling to back-up Matt Barkley. Also, in April, five-star recruit Max Browne of Sammamish, Wash., the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the nation, verbally committed to USC.

** Kiffin was reluctant to say Jesse Scroggins could be part of the backup quarterback mix, stressing that Scroggins has to "dig himself out of a hole" academically first.

** Kiffin released a depth chart but said, as he always does, that it "really doesn't mean very much."

** Kiffin said he gave Matt Barkley more work in the spring game than originally projected because the defense wasn't tackling and the fans deserved to see him with so many other offensive players being out.

** Kiffin said tailback depth and defensive tackle -- other than George Uko -- are his biggest personnel concerns coming out of spring.

USC coach Lane Kiffin has three goals for the team's spring game Saturday at the Coliseum:

1) Stay healthy; 2) check out the younger players in a game-like atmosphere; and 3) monitor the progress of the backup quarterbacks.

The third item on that list is the one of greatest interest to Trojans fans.

Redshirt freshmen Cody Kessler and Max Wittek are locked in a tight duel to back up Matt Barkley this season -- and eventually succeed him. The spring game, which kicks off at 1:30 p.m., provides the latest test of their readiness.

** Redshirt freshman tailback Buck Allen got his most extensive work as the Trojans practiced for the first time without Tre Madden, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Thursday. Allen, coming back from a hamstring injury, had some impressive runs but also looked tentative at times. We'll have more on the tailback situation later today.

** Receiver De'Von Flournoy did not practice after suffering a high-ankle sprain earlier in the week.

** Safety Drew McAllister returned after missing Thursday's practice because of a hip injury.

** Tight end Junior Pomee returned from a foot injury but had to come out after re-aggravating it.

Five-star recruit Max Browne of Sammamish, Wash., the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the nation, verbally committed to USC on Wednesday night at his high school.

Barkley, the top passer in the nation coming out of Mater Dei High in 2009, is entering his final season.

Like Barkley, Browne plans to graduate in December and enroll in January. If he's able to do so, he'll compete next spring with Cody Kessler and Max Wittek to be the Trojans' next starting quarterback. Kessler and Wittek will be redshirt sophomores in 2013. Jesse Scroggins, currently a redshirt sophomore, is the fourth scholarship quarterback on USC's roster.

With just a little more than a month left of school, Scroggins needs to finish strong. He still is attending pre-practice meetings. But with an injured hip hampering him anyway, Kiffin decided Scroggins would be better off doing extra class work while the team practices.